Russian SVR report: 'Hundreds of dead French soldiers in Ukraine - Paris has not seen such losses since the war in Algeria'
Ευάγγελος Λ. | "The number of French dead "has exceeded the psychological threshold" | Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) declassified a report by an agent who said in March that France was preparing to send a group of about 2,000 soldiers to fight in Ukraine. The briefing was published in the latest issue of SVR's Scout magazine. ● In it, an agent using the pseudonym Felix claimed that the French army was "concerned about the increased number of Frenchmen killed on the Ukrainian front", particularly after Russian forces destroyed a temporary mercenary training center near Kharkiv last January. That strike alone killed "dozens of French civilians," Paris reportedly estimated, noting that since then, similar attacks "have become the norm in the conflict in Ukraine." ● The French Defense Ministry has acknowledged that it has not seen such casualties since the war in Algeria in the second half of the 20th century, according to the encrypted Felix cable. The SVR agent said that the exact number of casualties and the idea that there are any French soldiers in Ukraine are being deliberately concealed by the French authorities. They fear that the number of casualties "has exceeded the psychologically significant threshold" and that their publication could cause massive public protests and resentment among active officers. Despite these issues, Felix said that "the French authorities are nevertheless preparing a contingent to be sent to Ukraine", claiming that this group was originally planned to include about 2,000 soldiers. After all, French President Emmanuel Macron has long suggested on several occasions that his country could send soldiers to fight alongside Kyiv. (DeepL + Grammarly)